President's veto on "morning-after pill"

As we read in the justification, the primary rationale for the President's decision is the desire to respect the constitutional rights and standard of health protection for children.

The President, listening in particular to the voice of parents, could not accept legal solutions that allow children under eighteen to have access to medicinal products for use in contraception without a doctor's supervision and without regard to the role and responsibility of parents.

The effect of the President's decision on the vetoed bill will be that medicinal products, including so-called emergency contraception, will be available in Poland under the current rules. 

Views and opinions on the issue varied, both during work in Parliament and in the public debate. The Office of the President of the Republic of Poland received numerous correspondence, including a petition signed by 30,000 people requesting that the law be vetoed. The President also met with Left MPs seeking to sign the law.

However, during the work on the bill, no convincing arguments - in the President's view - were made in favor of the over-the-counter availability of contraceptive drugs, in particular the drug product appearing under the name ellaOne for women under the age of eighteen.

The President declares himself open to the solutions provided by the law under discussion, with regard to women of legal age (after turning 18).

Source: President.co.uk